Posts Categorized: military history

I was just 7 years old living at Wright Patterson, AFB when the movie Jaws came out in theaters. 1975. I remember my parents bringing me to see it. Part of me wonders if they made a sound decision in doing that; because to this day, I am not a fan of oceans; nor of… Read more »

Why Ramadi matters: The fall of Ramadi is highly symbolic and of substantial strategic significance, despite the protestations to the contrary of Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey. In a joint press conference with Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on April 16, Dempsey stated: “The city itself is not symbolic is… Read more »

HAPPY 239TH BIRTHDAY U. S. NAVY — 13 October, 1775 – 13 October, 2014, dated from the creation of the Continental Navy by General George Washington after the Continental Congress failed to provide him with a critical naval arm. It appears that Congress has a long and rich history of obfuscation and ineptitude. The Continental… Read more »

There is an undefined point, when a government is so corrupt and incompetent, that citizens will no longer be willing to defend it. Iran or maybe Obama’s chief handler Valerie Jarrett, the Iranian Mole, seems to be playing our president, he who has no experience at anything, like the proverbial fish on a line, but… Read more »

One can reasonably presume how today’s Left would characterize and attack the person I am about to describe to you. Without a doubt, he would be characterized as some sort of dangerous, right-wing, tea-bagging, homophobic, Christian Neanderthal who should be maligned, attacked, marginalized, silenced, and driven from power. Character assassination has become the weapon of… Read more »

The time: 11:59 p.m. A clock ticks toward midnight, in a duet with the steady beat of a human heart.

The condemned: James Dark Moon (Pato Hoffmann), sentenced to die by lethal injection for the murder of a Marine officer. No one has come to mourn him – except, perhaps, the general who stands witness.

The prisoner’s last words: “I wish I could’ve added to this life instead of taken away -…

This particular episode touches upon capital punishment, usage of UAVs (this series was made in ’95-’96), andNavajo Code Talkers:

they were young Navajo men who transmitted secret communications on the battlefields of WWII. At a time when America’s best cryptographers were falling short, these modest sheepherders and farmers were able to fashion the most ingenious and successful code in military history. They drew upon their proud warrior tradition to brave the dense jungles of Guadalcanal and the exposed beachheads of Iwo Jima. Serving with distinction in every major engagement of the Pacific theater from 1942-1945, their unbreakable code played a pivotal role in saving countless lives and hastening the war’s end.

History, like this title, can be ambiguous; indeed, the ambiguity of history belongs to those who write and their interpretations of events. One of the most inspiring historical events was the Battle of Thermopylae. A battle story first told to this author by his grandmother, a children’s librarian, when he was small enough to sit… Read more »

At times he regarded the wounded soldiers in an envious way. He conceived persons with torn bodies to be peculiarly happy. He wished that he, too, had a wound, a red badge of courage.
— The Red Badge of Courage, Chapter nine

A bunch of new recruits arrive aboard the Saratoga. Unexpectedly, Nathan collars one of the young men and starts yelling at him. It turns out that the new soldier is none other than Nathan’s brother Neil. But Neil’s commanding officer turns out to be a gung-ho glory hound, and he may prove to be more dangerous to his unit than the Chigs.

“Come on you sons of b-! Do you want to live forever?”
–Semper badass, Dan Daly

Cry ‘Havoc,’ and Let Slip the Dogs of War These few words, give pause to all but the most dense, when leaders pound the drums of war and death. Only a few understand the real message, yet reading these words makes hardened warriors contemplate the utter horror of war. A British Commander during the Middle… Read more »